Video:Feeling Your Baby Move

Transcript:Feeling Your Baby Move

Hi, I'm Nadia Chapman for About.com. Today, I'm meeting with three wonderful moms who were kind enough to share their stories about feeling their baby move while pregnant.

What Is Feeling Your Baby Move Like?

Sage Kiedaisch Adams, mother of Ripley, 2 years old: I think it mostly felt like gold fish. It felt like I had a whole little swarm of something swimming around in there. It wasn't just bubbles or something, it felt like fish. Later on, I could feel her kicking all the time because she was always stretching her legs. You could see her feet moving on my belly all the time if I wore anything tight. She was always moving when I was trying to sleep.

What Times Would You Feel Your Baby Move?

Still today, she really likes to party at night, and when she was in my belly she was constantly kicking. As soon as I relaxed she would start to kick. I think she was soothed by the way that I was moving because I am not someone that sits still very well when I'm awake. When I finally would start to relax she would get a little antsy.

Fears About Feeling Your Baby Move

If I couldn't feel her move, or if I was sleeping and I thought to myself she hadn't kicked too much, I would race downstairs on the Internet and start reading about "how long it should be before I start to worry." Of course, it would always say something like 12 hours, 24 hours…but, I would be thinking "2 hours and haven't felt her move, something's gone wrong!".

When Will You Start Feeling Your Baby Move?

Alison Tidball, mother of 3, Benjamin 5, Joseph 2, Betty 4 weeks old: The very first movements are often described as butterflies, and I think it's quite an accurate description because it is a weird fluttering inside. You are never quite sure if it's the baby, or if it's just your tummy gurgling. As they get more frequent and slightly stronger, you can sort of recognize that perhaps the ones you were feeling a few weeks ago were definitely the baby moving. I remember with my first, not feeling him properly move till about 20 weeks. With Betty, I remember not feeling her move again till about 20-22 weeks. It was until I'd had the proper scan that I really start to be aware of her.

Can Feeling Your Baby Move Be Painful?

They always got painful with Betty, and that's probably because she's bigger than the other two. The other two were more like a big dancing on your bladder, or a big foot kicking out underneath your ribs. But it's quite nice to know that they're in there, and everything's okay and there having a nice wriggle around.

Feeling Your Baby Move After Vigorous Activity

I noticed with my first son that after I went swimming he would be particularly active in the evening, sort of 4-5 hours after I went swimming. Betty was quite active during the night, but especially after I'd eaten something during the day, they can be quite wriggly. I suppose all the sugar inside gives them a bit of a high, and they want to have a bit of a play. And Joseph, as he is now just pretty much charged around the whole time he was in there.

How Is Feeling Your Baby Move Early On?

Haley Micklewright, mother of Erin 5, Able 3, Lila 15 months: When I was first pregnant, I would say I started to feel the baby move at around 3-1/2 months. Everybody said from 3 months onwards, 4 months. Just before 4 months I felt a little bit of fluttering, just like a butterfly like everybody says. You realize it's the baby moving. When you get a lot bigger, first of all if loud music plays or something, I remember the baby would move a lot, like do somersaults when they're small enough to move that much in the tummy.

Encouraging Your Baby to Move

Then, as they got bigger and bigger, or rather I got bigger, I'd feel it loads when you lie down in bed at night you could feel the baby pushing you out of different positions. As the baby got bigger, if I thought that I couldn't feel it move for a few hours, I started to think "Oh, I hope everything is okay." Some people would tell me to go eat something sugary or maybe have a fizzy drink. The best one I think was an ice cube, if you would eat that, it would make the baby react. That worked quite a few times actually.

Can Others Feel Your Baby Move?

I was laying in bed against my husband's back, my stomach was against his back, and he thought I was pocking him in the back, but it was actually the baby that was kicking him away from my stomach. He was obviously putting too much weight against me.

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